Davies Giddy to Anna Beddoes, undated [late April 1801; incomplete draft] [1]
… not its authority <not> from the Fiat of a Prophet or an Imposter but in an xxxx consecrated by the wxxxx <the> xxxx Txxxxxx of all <every> <all> ages.
I hope to be favoured with a letter almost by return of Post. be assured of my <constant> regard let me hope you xxx x my respect <& > my esteem will ever remain undiminished.
Is not the age of Mr – such as would rather have xxxxx x him placed him in the situation of your Father than your Lover? <does this promise permanent regard; > do but only reflect on consequences and contrast them with the short lived happiness likely to result from this connection and I think your resolution will soon be fixed: but since a reciprocal affection has been excited act the part your reason may xxx xxx xxx xxxx hx xx point out immediately and decidedly without exposing yourself to further temptation <trial> I have ever admired the justness of that petition lead us not into temptation – to request <a> firm & good to xxxxxxx capable of withstanding pain & pleasure, would be to desire an alteration of human nature.
Your sincerity has been preserved, and <even> declared productive of increased affection. [2] Yet almost without a reason – for a moment the Ingenuousness was flattering I am no longer the object of decit – but <conscious> degredation must follow — an other is preferred his company his society is more grateful than mine. I am sacrificed for him at the expence of reputation and everything held dear [3] what must be the consequence of this reasoning —
I shall really be un-happy till your letter arrives. If it were possible I would actually come up.
Write to me & with the greatest confidence you may rely on it not being misplaced
Notes
[1] The content of this draft shows that it was a response to Anna’s letter of 19 April – apparently, it was a draft of the letter that, in in his hasty note of 23 April, Giddy promised to write. It was written on a discarded letter wrapper addressed to Davies Giddy Esq, Tredrea, and bears the postmark TRURO. The beginning is missing and it is not entirely clear in which order the extant paragraphs should be read. Possibly Giddy began writing on the side that was blank, with the sheet unfolded. On finishing this side he folded the sheet in half along an existing horizontal fold, and continued writing on the blank half of the folded sheet. Having run out of space he then turned the folded sheet over and finished on the side which had already been written on as a letter wrapper. This explains why the text above the horizontal fold on the second page is upside down, and would order the different sections as we display them here.
[2] Referring to Anna’s remark, in her letter of 19 April, that she had informed Beddoes, her husband, of Wynch’s protestations of love and Beddoes ‘praised me for what he called my sincerity & seemed to become fonder of me, tho’ he said he could not exactly tell why’.
[3] In this sentence Giddy is not referring to himself but is imagining Beddoes’s train of thought after Anna’s revelation that she had become intimately involved with Wynch had sunk in.